North Texas @ FAU Homecoming Game Thread - October 21st, 2017

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If you win-it, they will come. It's south florida, and reality is there is much more to do with your Saturday than sit in the stands in Boca…and I am only speaking of people immediately affiliated with FAU - staff, alumni, parents, and students.

If we win-out, and knock off a nice opponent in a bowl game, then next year will be a different story continuing to build off momentum. I know I would come over from Tampa to see a few games, but right now it is tough to justify to my wife/family taking off to boca for the weekend, and my wife is an Owl.

On a side night - I flew in to Tampa from Atlanta on saturday afternoon and was repping FAU polo alongside a bunch of football players from the IMG Academy through the terminal. A couple said "coach Kif, that's whatsup" - those were some big boys. I really hope we can hold on to Kiffin for the duration of his contract.

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David Slavic said

d-owl said

David Slavic said

d-owl said

Owl2Doc said

IMO the attendance issue is all of these things mentioned; it really depends on the individual. Ask 20 different people, students or otherwise, why they don't attend more games and you may get 20 different answers.

The thing that really bothers me is the approach to Homecoming. As a student I was on the Homecoming committee and the feeling I got from the other organizers on staff was that Homecoming, despite the name, is essentially a pride/competition week for the current students… which is weird because the whole point of Homecoming is to reconnect alumni with the school so that alumni and current students come together for events.

As an aside, are they not calling it "Owl Prowl" anymore? The Homecoming website just calls it Homecoming. Google search for Owl Prowl shows last time was 2014?

You make a great point re: alumni. As someone who was involved in alumni/giving as a student (and shortly thereafter), I am disappointed at the lack of outreach I see from the school. Therefore your comments about homecoming are not surprising. Granted I may not be the most proactive alum (doesn't help that I am in NY), but when I compare FAU's efforts to the other institution I attended after graduating from FAU, it's really subpar IMO. Most FAU alum were commuter students and didn't take away much from their FAU experience other than going to class in between jobs and finally getting a degree – I get that. However, the alumni base is so big the school should be able to have good outreach efforts to get more interest the program. Regardless, if the team keeps winning, fans will start coming out more consistently – you would have to think.

I agree and also disagree lol - FAU needs to do a better job of reaching out, but I hear from FAU a LOT more than I hear from Alabama. FAU sends me postcards every 4-6 weeks, and I get a postcard from Bama around Christmas and a little before tax time.

Interesting to hear that. I hear from the U a lot, get magazines, phone calls, they track me down when I move, invite me to reunions, hear from local NYC alum chapters etc. Granted they have a legit "brand". I really don't get much, if anything from FAU. My perspective is probably colored a bit from having worked in the administration as a student and shortly thereafter when football was just a thought/being christened and we used to talk about these things. Granted that was some time ago now, but I compare my experiences with my two alma maters and FAU falls short for me. It could also be that their outreach needs an adjustment to drum up more interest and get alumni excited to go out to these games.

I hear that – thing is I am certainly not a warm lead at all for UM. I've virtually done nothing for them to be keeping me in the loop on things, but they still do. Granted they are a smaller private institution.

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StPeteOwl said

If you win-it, they will come. It's south florida, and reality is there is much more to do with your Saturday than sit in the stands in Boca…and I am only speaking of people immediately affiliated with FAU - staff, alumni, parents, and students.

If we win-out, and knock off a nice opponent in a bowl game, then next year will be a different story continuing to build off momentum. I know I would come over from Tampa to see a few games, but right now it is tough to justify to my wife/family taking off to boca for the weekend, and my wife is an Owl.

On a side night - I flew in to Tampa from Atlanta on saturday afternoon and was repping FAU polo alongside a bunch of football players from the IMG Academy through the terminal. A couple said "coach Kif, that's whatsup" - those were some big boys. I really hope we can hold on to Kiffin for the duration of his contract.

Post

StPeteOwl said

If you win-it, they will come. It's south florida, and reality is there is much more to do with your Saturday than sit in the stands in Boca…and I am only speaking of people immediately affiliated with FAU - staff, alumni, parents, and students.

If we win-out, and knock off a nice opponent in a bowl game, then next year will be a different story continuing to build off momentum. I know I would come over from Tampa to see a few games, but right now it is tough to justify to my wife/family taking off to boca for the weekend, and my wife is an Owl.

On a side night - I flew in to Tampa from Atlanta on saturday afternoon and was repping FAU polo alongside a bunch of football players from the IMG Academy through the terminal. A couple said "coach Kif, that's whatsup" - those were some big boys. I really hope we can hold on to Kiffin for the duration of his contract.

Wore my gear with car flags to a Festival in TALKING ROCK , GA on Saturday (VERY SMALL TOWN IN NORTH GEORGIA!!!!) and had a lady stop to tell me she has a daughter attending FAU right now. SMALL WORLD GUYS - WEAR YOUR GEAR AND SPREAD THE WORD!!!

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d-owl said

StPeteOwl said

If you win-it, they will come. It's south florida, and reality is there is much more to do with your Saturday than sit in the stands in Boca…and I am only speaking of people immediately affiliated with FAU - staff, alumni, parents, and students.

If we win-out, and knock off a nice opponent in a bowl game, then next year will be a different story continuing to build off momentum. I know I would come over from Tampa to see a few games, but right now it is tough to justify to my wife/family taking off to boca for the weekend, and my wife is an Owl.

On a side night - I flew in to Tampa from Atlanta on saturday afternoon and was repping FAU polo alongside a bunch of football players from the IMG Academy through the terminal. A couple said "coach Kif, that's whatsup" - those were some big boys. I really hope we can hold on to Kiffin for the duration of his contract.

A big school can find 2.5 million in a couch to pay buyout. UT is about to buyout Butch at like 7 million and Arkansas around 6 for Bret.What FAU needs to do is the day after the season offer a contract extension pay Lane 1.5-2.0 million and bring the buyout up to 4-5 million like what UCF did and hope we keep him for the 2018 season with all these guys coming back and an elite 11 QB.If he leaves after 2018 we could have two great years all while having a coach for free plus a million or two years extra. Programs like Ark State and Colorado State( got 7million from when UF when they hired MAC) have built thier off buyouts.

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owlcountry40 said

d-owl said

StPeteOwl said

If you win-it, they will come. It's south florida, and reality is there is much more to do with your Saturday than sit in the stands in Boca…and I am only speaking of people immediately affiliated with FAU - staff, alumni, parents, and students.

If we win-out, and knock off a nice opponent in a bowl game, then next year will be a different story continuing to build off momentum. I know I would come over from Tampa to see a few games, but right now it is tough to justify to my wife/family taking off to boca for the weekend, and my wife is an Owl.

On a side night - I flew in to Tampa from Atlanta on saturday afternoon and was repping FAU polo alongside a bunch of football players from the IMG Academy through the terminal. A couple said "coach Kif, that's whatsup" - those were some big boys. I really hope we can hold on to Kiffin for the duration of his contract.

A big school can find 2.5 million in a couch to pay buyout. UT is about to buyout Butch at like 7 million and Arkansas around 6 for Bret.What FAU needs to do is the day after the season offer a contract extension pay Lane 1.5-2.0 million and bring the buyout up to 4-5 million like what UCF did and hope we keep him for the 2018 season with all these guys coming back and an elite 11 QB.If he leaves after 2018 we could have two great years all while having a coach for free plus a million or two years extra. Programs like Ark State and Colorado State( got 7million from when UF when they hired MAC) have built thier off buyouts.

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owlcountry40 said

d-owl said

StPeteOwl said

If you win-it, they will come. It's south florida, and reality is there is much more to do with your Saturday than sit in the stands in Boca…and I am only speaking of people immediately affiliated with FAU - staff, alumni, parents, and students.

If we win-out, and knock off a nice opponent in a bowl game, then next year will be a different story continuing to build off momentum. I know I would come over from Tampa to see a few games, but right now it is tough to justify to my wife/family taking off to boca for the weekend, and my wife is an Owl.

On a side night - I flew in to Tampa from Atlanta on saturday afternoon and was repping FAU polo alongside a bunch of football players from the IMG Academy through the terminal. A couple said "coach Kif, that's whatsup" - those were some big boys. I really hope we can hold on to Kiffin for the duration of his contract.

A big school can find 2.5 million in a couch to pay buyout. UT is about to buyout Butch at like 7 million and Arkansas around 6 for Bret.What FAU needs to do is the day after the season offer a contract extension pay Lane 1.5-2.0 million and bring the buyout up to 4-5 million like what UCF did and hope we keep him for the 2018 season with all these guys coming back and an elite 11 QB.If he leaves after 2018 we could have two great years all while having a coach for free plus a million or two years extra. Programs like Ark State and Colorado State( got 7million from when UF when they hired MAC) have built thier off buyouts.

Agreed, but I think it'll have to be a real good p5 opportunity, not a Rutgers type gig (no offense to Rutgers). There is still some hangover regarding his apparent reputation and this season is not over, so let's see how the rest of the year plays out and go from there. I do not think UT is an option for him – Arkansas may be a different story. Again, too early to worry about this yet. I think he is having fun here and he is not just going to jump ship just to jump ship.

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I honestly think he has to stay here for at least 2 years. Only a desperate school will try to hire him after 1 season - and Arkansas, or Oregon State, or some other program like that might be desperate enough. But I don't think he'd want to jump into a conference that will be basically impossible to win in. If the ACC had a good opening, I think he'd jump at that because it's easy to win there right now, and would provide a good platform to move to an elite school in the next couple of years.

But he also seems to like it here. Nice weather, nice stadium, low pressure, and attractive women. He's developing a cult following here, which he won't necessarily get somewhere else. He's the biggest celebrity ever to be associated with the school.

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GeorgiaOwl said

StPeteOwl said

If you win-it, they will come. It's south florida, and reality is there is much more to do with your Saturday than sit in the stands in Boca…and I am only speaking of people immediately affiliated with FAU - staff, alumni, parents, and students.

If we win-out, and knock off a nice opponent in a bowl game, then next year will be a different story continuing to build off momentum. I know I would come over from Tampa to see a few games, but right now it is tough to justify to my wife/family taking off to boca for the weekend, and my wife is an Owl.

On a side night - I flew in to Tampa from Atlanta on saturday afternoon and was repping FAU polo alongside a bunch of football players from the IMG Academy through the terminal. A couple said "coach Kif, that's whatsup" - those were some big boys. I really hope we can hold on to Kiffin for the duration of his contract.

Wore my gear with car flags to a Festival in TALKING ROCK , GA on Saturday (VERY SMALL TOWN IN NORTH GEORGIA!!!!) and had a lady stop to tell me she has a daughter attending FAU right now. SMALL WORLD GUYS - WEAR YOUR GEAR AND SPREAD THE WORD!!!

That's awesome! I was in a wedding in Brasleton Chateu Elon on Friday. I killed about 3 hours Saturday morning in my FAU Gameday Polo at the Ponce City Market before the flight. Got some interesting looks but overall cool feedback from some UGA and Bama fans.